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Posts: 106
Location: northern Georgia | I recall that Pat Metheny used to use a fretless guitar occasionally. Of course, without frets, the tone of a plucked instrument is going to decay faster than if it had frets, especially for higher frequency tones. On bowed instruments, you can continue to drive the string with the bow to sustain the note. On a plucked double bass, the faster decay will add a bit of punch to the line being played. |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | We are going to need someone to de-fret an Ovation guitar to bottom out this discussion. Anyone got a trashed neck or fretboard? |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Interesting that bowed instruments also used to be fretted |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Tuners, bridge and strings fitted. All seems good so far. Going to leave it overnight to see if it all implodes. If not I will fit pickups and hook up to an amp.
Edited by sycamore 2020-03-21 5:35 PM
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Seems to have no truss rod or at least not an adjustable one. I hope it will be OK. 840mm scale length and 45 - 100 strings. Neck seems good as is but not sure how long it will stay that way. The parts I got are supposed to be for P Bass but I had to make them fit |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Photo |
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Joined:
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Bass with strings attached https://imgur.com/gallery/XSrRArU |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Oh wait. it does have a truss rod. It seems fairly seized and with a shallow allen bolt head so I'm not sure if it will move if it needs to. But the neck seems OK with slight nut and bridge adjustments. And it sounds somewhat bass-like.
Watch out Geddy Lee, here I come
Edited by sycamore 2020-03-22 1:04 PM
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | To make a pickguard, I found a piece of 6mm thick beech which might suit. Can you think of any downside of such a thick piece? I'm not worried about the weight as its already a bit neck heavy. |
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Posts: 1801
Location: When?? | sycamore - 2020-03-29 1:03 PM
Can you think of any downside of such a thick piece?
I can't... save for maybe you could bevel the edge to make it "look" less thick. Besides, it's about whatever works and makes YOU happy after all the work you have been putting into this. |
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The link isn't working. |
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Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Yeah, not for me, either. |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | can you try again?
Bass with strings attached https://imgur.com/gallery/XSrRArU |
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Posts: 3611
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Thanks! The link works now. Progress is being made. Congrats! |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | The defretted neck feels very smooth and plays rather well. It really only needs pickguard and pots now to make it fully functional. Not sure if I will do anything with the finish, apart from colouring in the scratches so they are less visible. |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Pickguard template in progress https://imgur.com/gallery/lvRUpsZ
I downloaded a pdf and stuck the printout to MDF board before transferring to the hardwood board |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Further progress on the pickguard.
https://imgur.com/gallery/aK0x95D
https://imgur.com/gallery/hWxx3FY
Edited by sycamore 2020-04-02 3:59 PM
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Location: Cass County, Texas | Great work. It is really coming back to life.  |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Thanks, the project is certainly keeping me entertained. Learning to play bass will be the next one. |
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Posts: 1034
Location: Yokohama, Japan | sycamore - 2020-03-14 1:34 AM
We are going to need someone to de-fret an Ovation guitar to bottom out this discussion. Anyone got a trashed neck or fretboard?
Nice work sycamore! You're almost done! Not ever planning on de-fretting an O, but do you remember these? This fretless Kramer KFB-1 sounds amazing with flatwound strings. Looking forward to seeing the finished project! |
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Location: Cork, Ireland | Thanks. Not familiar with the Kramer but any time I've tried fretless acoustic bass guitars I enjoyed the experience.
I was too mean to buy flatwounds. They're pretty pricey around these parts.
My pickguard is slightly higher than the fingerboard so I'm tapering it down at the edges. More like a carved top than a pickguard.
https://imgur.com/gallery/7TX6X8Q
Edited by sycamore 2020-04-04 3:19 PM
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | I was going to keep the finish on the beech( from my kitchen cupboards), but theres more bare wood than I had anticipated. Any suggestions on a finish to suit the beach and compliment the sunburst on the body?
Https://imgur.com/gallery/neElt3t
Edited by sycamore 2020-04-05 1:52 PM
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Posts: 106
Location: northern Georgia | Quite a few sunburst solid body guitars have white pickguards, such as my G&L sunburst Legacy. Of course this is very subjective, but I think you want something that contrasts with the body. Along that way, other light contrasting colors could work, such as yellow or gold. If you go with something similar to the body color like a tortoise-shell pattern, you would still probably want a contrasting white stripe along the edge, but since you are putting a finish on a relatively plain wood, I would still probably go mostly white. You can see examples of these kinds of schemes by going to an online store/site and looking at their listings of solid body instruments (Musicians Friend, Elderly Instruments, Reverb, etc). |
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Posts: 698
Location: Cork, Ireland | Those are all good ideas. I had been thinking along the lines of woodstains to show some grain, but the wood is very pale and the grain is not very obvious. I think I need to experiment on a scrap piece before I commit.
one other caveat: with lockdown I can't really go out and by stuff so it may have to be something I already have in the shed. As I never throw away anything, that need not be too limiting
Edited by sycamore 2020-04-06 3:26 AM
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Posts: 106
Location: northern Georgia | Looking at the picture, the beech is close to white anyway, where it is not stained. Perhaps sanding it down to where it is all the natural color and then putting a clear finish on it might give a good effect. |
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Applause Bass Project
